Some new GCSE courses have a far greater proportion of non-examination assessments (NEA), along with less emphasis on formal exams.<\/p>\n
NEAs include a range of activities such as oral assessments, fieldwork, portfolio work and practical assessments which are often set and marked by teachers.<\/p>\n
Only months since it started being taught, the WJEC said it had “concluded that significant adjustments are needed” to the GCSE English Language and Literature course after feedback from schools.<\/p>\n
The exam board is consulting on reducing the level of oracy assessments, while it is also considering dropping the requirement for planning and research for tasks to be completed under a high level of teacher supervision.<\/p>\n
Any major changes would be introduced for Year 10 students starting in September 2026 but would not apply to pupils who were already a year into the course, the WJEC said.<\/p>\n
More limited changes are also being considered for the Welsh language and literature qualification.<\/p>\n
Tasks would not be removed from the GCSE, but the WJEC said it was considering “several potential changes that could help improve manageability in the future”. Those changes would be introduced from September 2027.<\/p>\n
The developments follow warnings from teachers about the pressures of planning and marking the work, as well as the demands on pupils.<\/p>\n
Headteachers in Cardiff sent a letter to the WJEC and regulator Qualifications Wales warning the reforms were placing schools “under extreme pressure” and calling for “urgent action\u2026. to protect staff wellbeing and pupil learning”.<\/p>\n
The WJEC said it had been “working closely with practitioners, head teachers, Qualifications Wales and other key stakeholders to explore ways of improving the manageability of these qualifications while maintaining their educational integrity and supporting positive outcomes for learners”.<\/p>\n
“The consultations will remain open until mid-June, after which we will carefully review all responses and confirm the outcomes before the end of the summer term,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“We remain committed to working collaboratively with the education community and to implementing changes that support both teachers and learners, ensuring these qualifications can be delivered effectively and with confidence.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some new GCSE courses have a far greater proportion of non-examination assessments (NEA), along with less emphasis on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-628202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}